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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
BOITORIAL.
City council
helps defend
student voice
So the Eugene City Council heard arguments Monday
night in favor of giving the Department of Public Safety
more latitude in dealing with unruly college students.
Are we the only ones who see major problems with this?
University officials touted new provisions that would
enable DPS officers to issue drug- and alcohol-related
citations, and Vice President of Administration
Dan Williams even went so far as to say, "We would
very much welcome the opportunity to accept
this responsibility."
Students should be outraged. Who knows, maybe they
would be outraged, were they informed about it. The
proposal has been in the works for a year, and Vice Presi
dent of Student Affairs Anne Leavitt said at the meeting
that the University administration has been discussing
the issue with ASUO since April, beginning with the out
going ASUO Executive. Yet on Monday night, only two
students showed up, and the one representing the stu
dent body couldn't even come to a polarized opinion on
the matter.
So then, we ask, who is at fault? Should we blame the
University for their apparent attempts to keep the issue
behind closed doors until it could safely emerge when
students left for the summer, or should we blame ASUO
for not making some kind of effort to inform students
beforehand?
Given that the incoming ASUO Executive was under
going transition about the time the issue was brought up
to student government— giving it much less of a chance
to effectively inform students — we direct suspicion to
the University. Would it really have hurt to take more
steps beyond ASUO discussion to let students know
about potential changes?
The ASUO Executive, however, is not completely out
of hot water. Even now, when students desperately need
to be defended by some kind of representative body, the
Executive refused to take an official stance on the issue.
At the City Council meeting, Campus Outreach Coordi
nator Shannon Tarvin said the lack of student input has
put ASUO in a position not to take a position. This weak
argument provoked a lecture from Ward 1 Councilor
Bonny Bettman, who chastised Tarvin for not voicing
some kind of argument against the proposal. While we
applaud ASUO for trying to make a statement about the
lack of student involvement, it effectively lost its chance
to officially decry the efforts to the very people who will
later decide the issue.
In light of the situation, which clearly shows that stu
dents are lacking a voice in the discussion, we only hope
that Ward 3 Councilor David Kelly's efforts to delay an
official vote until fall will be successful. The Emerald ed
itorial board has said it before and we'll say it again:
Every stakeholder in the campus community needs to
be involved in the discussion. Such discussion can't
happen when officials wait until the end of the year to
bring up an issue — which gives us little confidence in
the system or the likely outcome.
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters
@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to
250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Brad Schmidt Jan Tobias Montry
Editor in chief Managing editor
YOU WANNA PROVE YOURSELF TO THIS ADMINISTRATION?
SAY YOU PULLED THE TRIGGER..
Legislature should prioritize schools
How is it the Oregon legislature is pass
ing tax breaks for Enron before passing out
an education budget?
Let's start at the beginning.
In 1967, the Legislature passed a tax
incentive designed to help timber mills
and other manufacturers comply with
the newly
passed federal miym
Clean Air Act ^31 %3 1
and the Clean COMMENTARY
Water Act. This _
incentive al
lowed businesses to lower their state tax
bill to compensate for costs of the new
equipment these laws required.
During the 1990s, critics wondered
whether taxpayers should continue pay
ing for this ever-growing subsidy. After
all, the new environmental regulations
were a quarter-century old. Many ques
tioned whether taxpayers should contin
ue to pay businesses for simply doing
what the law required.
In 2001, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber
said the time had come to let this sub
sidy expire. But the leaders of the Legis
lature wanted to extend it. In a rare spirit
of bipartisanship, the two sides agreed to
a compromise that called for higher
standards and a gradual phase-out of this
credit by 2007.
I supported the compromise.
Ihat's why I so strongly oppose the new
measure that some House members
forced through some weeks ago, without
debate — a measure that would relax the
environmental standards and extend this
expensive tax break another 11 years to
2014. The fact that this bill passed the
House before the Legislature has ad
dressed education funding is a slap in the
face to every person in Oregon.
Taxpayers should be alarmed for anoth
er, even more compelling reason, howev
er. We all know Enron managed to escape
Oregon taxes last year, paying only the
minimum payment of $10. What many
people don't know is Enron received a tax
break of $ 1.1 million because of the Pol
lution Control Tax Credit.
Even worse, Enron has applied for $ 18
million in similar tax credits next year for
work associated with the decommission
ing of the Trojan Nuclear Plant — $ 18
million!
In addition to padding the bottom
line for huge multi-nationals like En
ron, the Pollution Control Tax Credit
enables individuals to take a credit for
buying wood chippers. Wood chippers?
Yes. More than 500 state certificates last
year went to people who bought wood
chippers, because chipping wood cre
ates less pollution than burning wood
to dispose of it.
That may be tme, but in most in
stances the law already prohibits open
burning. Whether this is a valid applica
tion of the tax break misses the point:
Does anyone really believe that buying a
wood chipper creates new jobs in
Oregon? Does anyone believe we
should cut school days while subsidizing
wood chippers?
Oregon needs to be smart in crafting
strategies for the new century. We need to
build our economy on real products and
services that pull their weight in the
world's markets — not on wood
chippers and disgraced corporations
like Enron.
Let's do what Oregonians do best when
managing environmental standards
against economics: Let's recycle this 30
year-old law and turn it into something
that actually helps us move forward.
Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, is a member
of the Oregon House of Representatives.
ONLINE POLL
Each week, the Emerald publishes
the previous week’s poll results and
the coming week’s poll question.
Visit www.dailyemerald.com to vote.
Last week: How do you respond to
telemarketing phone calls?
Results: 36 total votes
Politely listen and buy nothing - 36.1
percent or 13 votes
Hang up — 27.8 percent or 10 votes
Say something rude and hang up —13.9
percent or 5 votes
I screen my calls -13.9 percent or
5 votes
Leave me alone — 8.3 percent or 3 votes
Politely listen and buy something - 0
percent or 0 votes
Ask for their home phone number—0
percent or 0 votes
This week: Should Department of
Public Safety officers have the power
to issue certain drug- and alcohol-related
citations?
Choices: Yes, it will improve campus
safety; Yes, and they should get guns,
too; No, they aren’t real cops; No, they
lack the training to do so; No, in fact,
DPS should be altogether dissolved;
Leave me alone!